Saying goodbye to 2008

Today is the last day of this year. We may not have got everything that we wanted this year and may have faced difficult times. But when we look back, we should look at the year with love.
This year, like every year, has exposed us to a variety of experiences. Many years later, when we look back at our lives, some of our special memories would be from this year.We are richer as humans than we were at the start of the year.

The Rule of Love

There is a simple rule governing love which we sometimes tend to forget - we receive as much as we give. Only when we can love, will we be loved back.
We need to love without attaching any conditions whether it be our romantic relation, our family or our friends.We might not get love in return immediately, but in the long run, the rule governing love will ensure we get it back in equal measure.

Finding the Positives

How a particular situation impacts our life depends on how we view it. If we harp on the negatives, it will affect us adversely but if we find the positives in the situation, our life will be positively impacted.
We must make an endeavor to try to find the positives in any situation. We will find ourselves happier people and we will learn from every experience.

Hanging on a little longer

There are times of our lives where we feel like giving up. We may not have got the results that we had hoped for and we do not seem to have the energy to persist longer.
At such times, it is important to just hold on a little longer. We must tell ourselves to continue taking small steps for some more time. Often things will change and we will realize that we are on the verge of success.

Finding your calling

Many of us feel dissatisfied in our current jobs. But we also do not know what our true calling in life is and what would make us truly happy.
We need to think about our lives without the baggage of the past. We should think about the life we would be leading if there were no limitations and we had no fear. We will find our calling and also the roadmap for our lives.

Finding true joys

Most of us desire material things. We also realize that when we do get those material things, we do not feel great happiness for much length of time.
To find lasting happiness, we need to find out what gives us true joy. It may be giving our best to our work or making someone smile or something else; but rarely would it be a materialistic object.

Ask for blessings

The most difficult part of going through a low phase in life is having to deal with it alone. However, even if we find it difficult to share our feelings with others, we are never alone.
We must feel one with the universe and ask for its blessings. When we feel blessed, we can overcome the most trying circumstances.

Being bored this Christmas eve

In the hustle and bustle of city life,we often do not have time to spend with ourselves. A lot of us cannot remember the last time we were bored.
The next time we feel bored, we must relish the moment. Being alone need not mean being lonely. It is a time to relax and clear our minds of the clutter of daily tasks.

Exercising the power of choice

When we are unhappy with the way things are going in our lives, we often feel helpless and frustrated. At such times, we forget that we have a great power - the power of choice.
We can choose to change our lives. Instead of feel powerless at our situation, we can choose to live our vest life.

Making people feel important

One of the biggest reasons why we may find ourselves not making new friends easily or not have fulfilling relationship is that we tend to be too preoccupied with ourselves. When we take interest in others, we find our relationships getting richer.
Making people feel important is also key to professional success. Everyone, young or old, loves to be given importance and treated specially.

Feel Rich

Many times we do not fully appreciate the value of what we have in life. Our thoughts focus more on what we do not have rather than what we have.
We need to realize is that if our thoughts focus on abundance, we will create abundance in our lives. We need to start feeling rich to attract richness.

Enjoy the ups and downs

When things are not going our way, we may feel depressed and unhappy. Then things change and our sadness is replaced by feelings of joy.
We must realize that this is a cycle. If there was no sadness, we would not know the meaning of happiness. When we understand this truth, we will start treating life as a joy ride and enjoying the ups and downs.

Gifting a smile

This holiday season, many of us would be buying gifts for our family and friends. This season of giving is also the season of spreading happiness.
The anticipation and the excitement with which a child unwraps his present is a beautiful sight. The smile of the child's lips is his gift to us and the happiness is more than anything money can buy.

Look beyond the problems

Nothing significant can ever be achieved without overcoming hurdles. However, when we take up a big challenge, our initial enthusiasm is often dampened by imagining the problems we may have to face.
Instead of focusing on why we can't do something, we should focus on our strengths and believe that we can. We will find our positive intent overcoming any obstacle in our plans.

Visualizing happiness

When we visualize something, we generate powerful forces to realize the visualization. But many times, our thoughts tend to be negative which attracts sadness in our lives.
We must try to visualize ourselves being content and happy. We should make this visualization a part of our daily routine. We will be surprised at how soon we start attracting positive energy and happiness in our lives.

Eliminating Anxiety about the future

A big part of our anxiety stems from the uncertainty about the future. Sometimes we feel that things are not in our control and we are unsure about how they will pan out.
We need to be remember that our future depends on our actions in the present. If our actions today are in the right direction, our future will be what we want it to be. If we are not happy with our present, we have the power to change our actions now to make a beautiful future.

Thought for the weekend

For some of us, Monday morning blues start on Sunday evening. We feel depressed at the thought of facing another tough week at work.
This happens because we are not living in the present and our mind has already raced a day ahead. We should make it a point to enjoy every day be it a Sunday evening or a Monday morning.

Don't be afraid of making resolutions

Many of us makes resolutions at the start of a new year. Many times, we end up breaking these resolutions and over time, we stop making resolutions because we are afraid that we will not be able to keep them.
Let's not be scared of making resolutions. We should make a bold resolution and try our best to live upto it. Even if we fail, we will not feel bad if we gave it our best.

Spread joy this holiday season

The holiday season is a time for joy and happiness. All of us like to get together with our near and dear ones and celebrate this festive time.
Let's also not forget those not as fortunate as us. If we can do something for them in our own small way, it will go a long way in spreading joy in this world.

Like and be liked

All of us want to be liked by others. But sometimes, we forget that the easiest way of being liked by someone is to like him.

When we develop a genuine liking for others, we create a positive aura around us. We develop a likeable and trusting personality which endears us to others.

Absorbing positivity

A large part of our attitude is shaped by the company we keep. Being around negative people will make us see the difficulties and problems in every situation.

When we are around positive people, we see the opportunities in every difficulty. Positive people emit positivity which makes us a happier and more confident person.

It takes time to get better

Whenever we take on a new job or start learning a new skill, we start at the very bottom. There are people who are much more proficient than us at the activity.

We need to give ourselves sufficient time to learn anything new. We need to be the best but when we keep trying, we keep getting better and better.

Live at your own pace

There are times in our lives when we may look at other people and find that their lives or careers are moving at a faster pace than ours. This should not be a cause of disheartenment for us.

We cannot live our life at someone else's pace. Some may prefer a faster pace whereas some like a slower life. All of us have to find our own pace in order to be happy.

Free Choice

All of us have days where nothing seems to go right. It is on such days that we can actually benefit from the freedom of choice.
We can choose to be happy or sad. Lets choose to be happy. We will find that when we make the choice to think positive and be happy, things will start going our way.

Practicing Forgiveness

Forgiveness does not come naturally to many people. We need to become strong and confident people before we can learn to forgive those who may have hurt us.

A method to practice forgiveness is to think of the person who may have caused us a lot of pain and unconditionally forgive him. We should visualize that person achieving success in life. Our feelings of anger with that person will melt. We will feel lighter of the burden of anger by forgiving.

Opportunity will knock again

Most of us have missed some opportunities in our lives. While it is possible to think back about what could have been if we had capitalized on them, it is a futile exercise.

If we keep our eyes open, we will find other opportunities coming our way. We need an open mind to spot the opprtunity and the spirit to pursue them.

Dealing with a difficult person

We all encounter people who may be difficult to deal with. We may get annoyed or irritated at their behavior but this may not be best way to deal with this.

We need to give the other person the benefit of doubt and imagine the other person is having a bad day. Treat the other person with kindness and help him like you would help someone dear to you.

Laugh like a child

One of the most endearing sounds in the world is a child's laughter. A child laughs without a care in the world and the laugh signifies heart felt happiness.

We will be very lucky if we can laugh like a child. When we can laugh carefree, it does not mean we don't have problems; it means that we refuse to be bothered by them.

Believe in your dreams

All of us have dreams in which your lives are really different from our current situation. So to many of us, dreams are just that - dreams; which you don't think will come true.

We must know that all great things start with a dream. When we have a dream, we also have the power to achieve it. The onus is on us to believe in our power to make them come true

Let go of your biggest fear

Most of us are held back by our fears. Most of these fears are irrational and if we break free from them, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

A way to let go of our fears is to identify our biggest fear and think about it logically. We will find that we would no longer be prisoners of this fear and would feel free.

Don't get attached to the outcome

When we are working towards a goal, achieving success is foremost in our minds. Most of us get attached to the outcome and are disappointed if it is not favourable.

There are factors beyond our control in the short run. We need to keep focusing on our work and not on the immediate outcome. We will realize that in the long run, we will always be rewarded for our efforts.